Deja Vu
by TigerUnknown
Summary: Something strange started happening. Cavendish was remembering alternate timelines. Timelines in which he died.
1. Chapter 1

Pistachios. They were here to protect pistachios. Why? Because apparently, their boss loves them.

You'd think it would be a simple job. Just make sure nothing happens to the pistachios. Well, fate was not in their favour. Everything seemed to go to as planned, until…

"Are you out of your mind?" Cavendish angrily shouted.

"What?" Dakota replied.

"There is no fathomable way that the drums are better than the piano!"

Surprised, Dakota thought he accidentally hit a nerve, "Well, the drums are just way more fun. You get to hit things and make a lot of noise."

"If you seriously believe that drums are better than piano, then I truly feel bad for you. You've clearly never listened to good music before."

There they were. Having another pointless argument. Before they knew it, their pistachio cart started to slowly roll away. "Sheesh, Cav, relax. Didn't mean to get you all riled up."

Cavendish turned around to focus all his anger on Dakota, "If you didn't mean for me to get all riled up, then why did you- THE PISTACHIOS!"

During their petty argument, the pistachio cart rolled away. Now it was rolling down the street, gaining speed as it goes down the hill.

How in the world could they be so incompetent? Without hesitation, Cavendish ran after the cart. There was no way he'll fail another mission.

"Cav, wait!"

But there was no way he'll slow down to wait for Dakota. If he'd do that, it could be too late and they would fail yet another mission. Running as fast as he could, he was starting to catch up to the pistachio cart. As the cart crossed the street, so did Cavendish. Without making sure it was safe to do so.

CRASH!

"Are you out of your mind?" Cavendish angrily shouted.

"What?" Dakota replied.

"There is no fathomable way that the drums are better than the piano!"

Suddenly, Cavendish got a strange feeling. Didn't they already have this argument before?

Maybe they argued about this on a previous mission.

"Well, the drums are just way more fun. You get to hit things and make a bunch of noise."

"If you seriously believe that drums are better than piano, then I truly feel bad for you. You've clearly never listened to good music before."

"Relax, Cav. Didn't mean to get you all riled up."

Cavendish turned around to face Dakota, "If you didn't mean for me to get all riled up, then why did you- THE PISTACHIOS!"

Turning around, he saw that the pistachio cart started to roll away. Without hesitation, he ran after it. He can feel Dakota trying to grab on to him, but he wasn't fast enough. Cavendish ran off to follow the cart.

"CAV! UGH!" Dakota yelled in frustration.

But there was no way he'll slow down to wait for Dakota. If he'd do that, it could be too late and they would fail yet another mission. Running as fast as he can, he was starting to catch up to the pistachio cart. Suddenly, after the cart crossed the street, Cavendish stopped. He wasn't really sure why he stopped. He was so close to actually catching up with the pistachio cart.

"Cav! Sto- huh?"

Just then, a truck zoomed right past him. He stood there in shock.

If he continued to follow the cart, that truck would have hit him.

He watched as the pistachio cart continued to go down the street until it fell into a ditch. Soon after, they heard an explosion sound.

"Hey Cav, are you okay?" Dakota started to rub Cavendish's back.

Cavendish shrugged him off, "Of course I'm fine! We've failed so many missions that at this point, I don't care anymore. Let's just report back to Mr. Block, tell him we failed yet another mission, and prepare ourselves to be yelled at for the next half hour."

Cavendish turned around and stormed off towards their time machine.

* * *

Something strange was happening. When it started happening, Cavendish ignored it. But it came to a point that he couldn't ignore it anymore.

He's been having strange moments of Deja vus. It was hard to explain it. Sometimes he would be running down the street and suddenly he felt like this already happened before. Maybe his job felt too repetitive. They get a mission to protect some pistachios, everything is fine, and then something goes wrong. It did feel a bit repetitive.

Sometimes it's like he already knew what was going to happen before it happened. It was like he subconsciously knew what was going to happen.

He remembers reading about time travel stuff a while back. He read that a change in the timeline can cause Deja vus. Maybe it's because he's a time traveller that it keeps happening to him.

But maybe that'll change. They're off pistachio duty. Which was a relief, but now they're on renaissance outhouse duty. Which was way more humiliating and pointless. He's sure that Mr. Block gave them that job because it would be more satisfying to watch them suffer than to actually fire them.

Cavendish sighed and rubbed his forehead. It was way too late to think about this kind of stuff. He was sitting at his desk in the small apartment that Dakota and himself shared. He can see Dakota on the other side of the room. He was asleep at his desk.

He should go to sleep too. Unfortunately, since their apartment is so small, they didn't even have a bedroom. Most of the time, they either fall asleep at their desk, on the ground, or in their car. Cavendish decided to try to make himself comfortable as he got ready to fall asleep at his desk. It was probably terrible for his back, but he didn't care right now.

* * *

As soon as he was about to fall asleep, his communicator went off. That woke him up right away. He answered it.

"Cavendish! Where's Dakota?" Mr. Block asked.

"Shhhh, in our timeline, it's the middle of the night. He's asleep."

"I don't care! Brick and Savannah aren't responding, I need someone to make sure they're fine, unfortunately, my only option is to send you buffoons."

"Alright," Cavendish placed his hand on his forehead. He wasn't really in the mood for a mission right now, but he's willing to take any mission other than cleaning outhouses in the renaissance. "Send the time and the coordinates."

Soon, a piece of paper came out of the communicator with the coordinates and the time where Brick and Savannah are supposed to be. "I'm actually giving you two a real mission, so don't mess it up! Got it?"

"Yes, Sir."

After that exchange, Mr. Block hung up. The room was quiet again. A part of him was tempted to just go to sleep and take care of the mission in the morning. It's not like it really mattered, they're time travellers. But he knew that he wouldn't get much more sleep. Knowing that Brick and Savannah are in trouble, he wouldn't be able to go to sleep. He'll be up all night thinking about the countless situations that they might have gotten themselves into.

Getting up from his desk, he stretched a bit. Cavendish looked at Dakota. He knew that Dakota had trouble falling asleep too sometimes. He felt bad even just thinking about waking him up. Ever since he met Dakota, he thought that because of his lazy habits, he would be a heavy sleeper and be the type of person who would always sleep in. But that changed when they started to live together. He noticed that Dakota would often be awake before him. Sometimes he would be awake during the night. He didn't think much of it until once he was working at his desk and Dakota was asleep. Dakota started to move around and all of a sudden, he woke up. He had a frightened look on his face as if he had a nightmare. When Cavendish asked about it, Dakota pretended that nothing happened. That made Cavendish think that Dakota had issues falling asleep because of that. Of course, after that, he didn't bring it up again. He respected other peoples privacy. If Dakota didn't want to talk about it, that was okay.

Thinking about this, he decided to let Dakota sleep. It was a simple mission anyways. All he needed to do is check up on Brick and Savannah. Nothing too serious.

Grabbing the car keys, he walked out the door.


	2. Chapter 2

There he was, exactly when and where he needed to be. Right away, he didn't see any signs of Brick and Savannah. He felt a bit nervous. He never went on a mission all by himself. He guessed it didn't really bother him until he actually was there, all by himself.

Cavendish got out of his time machine and started to walk around. As he walked around, he stepped on something. It was their communicator. That's where the coordinates led him.

That's not good. He started to scold himself for not asking Block more questions. Asking important things such as, what was Brick and Savannah's mission? What were they doing?

He wanted to call Block again to ask him those questions, but a part of him felt too intimidated by him to do that. He'll look around some more before calling Block.

"Brick? Savannah?" Cavendish called out.

No reply.

He decided to get back to his time machine to drive around a bit. He'll be able to cover more ground by car. Driving around for a bit, he saw a cliff that had tire marks leading towards it. Stopping his car, he got out to investigate.

"-Can't believe this!"

Cavendish started to hear a familiar voice coming from the cliff."

"This is all your fault!" he can hear Savannah yelling out.

"My fault? MY FAULT? You're the one that ratted out those idiots! If you didn't tell Block that they were destroying pistachios, we wouldn't be here right now!"

Hearing Brick referring to Dakota and himself as idiots, he felt less inclined to help them. "How was I supposed to know we'd be stuck with their pointless mission?! Why can't we just bring pistachios to Block from the past whenever he wants some?! Why do we have to go through so much trouble just to stop some stupid plant from going extinct!" Savannah yelled back at Brick.

Cavendish walked up to the cliff before he got too close, he started to get that feeling. That feeling as if he was about to put himself in danger. Sometimes he would just ignore that feeling. But he decided to listen to it. He walked to a different part of the cliff. A part that he didn't get that strange feeling. From there, he can see where he was about to go to. That part of the cliff looked a bit brittle. He thought he made the right decision to try to find a more stable part of the cliff.

From there, he can see what was going on. There was a pistachio truck only being held by branches and roots that were sticking out of the cliff. Cavendish guessed that Brick and Savannah were probably in the driver seat of the truck.

"Brick? Savannah?" Cavendish called out.

"Did you hear that?" Savannah asked Brick.

"Oh no," Brick replied.

Savannah stuck her head out the window of the truck. From there, she can see Cavendish.

Cavendish grinned, "Need help?"

"No! We're fine! Go away!" Brick called out. "Ouch!" Cavendish didn't see what happened, but he guessed that Savannah must have kicked Brick or something.

"Actually sweetheart, we would really appreciate some help right now."

Cavendish looked at Savannah questionably. Did she just call him sweetheart? She must be fearful for her life to say something like that. "Okay," Cavendish looked around, "What do you want me to do?"

"In the back of this truck, there's a bag full of our gear. There's an antigravity gun in it. You can use that to lift the truck to a safe place."

Cavendish understood what Savannah told him to do, but it seemed really dangerous. He'd be risking his life to do that. But, if he did save Brick and Savannah, maybe Mr. Block would stop thinking that he's completely useless. "Alright!" Against Cavendish's better judgement, he started to look for a safe path to go down to the truck. He almost felt like he had a strange superpower. Whenever he was about to do something that can result in his death, his gut feeling would warn him. Letting that feeling guide him, he managed to make it to the truck without falling off the cliff.

When he made it to the truck, he had to pick the lock to open it up. After he opened the back of the truck, he spotted the bag. As he slowly and carefully approached the bag. He started to feel like this already happened before. He started to hate it whenever that happened because it would give him a headache. Ignoring the pain, he opened the bag. There was a bunch of futuristic weapons in it. Most of them he didn't even recognize.

"Which one is the antigravity one?" Cavendish asked.

"It's the purple one," Savannah replied.

Looking around, Cavendish found it. It was a bit big and he wasn't sure how to use it, "Found it!"

"Wait! Don't use it in here!" Brick yelled out, "You need to be-"

"On a stable surface, I know!" Cavendish yelled back. He felt extremely weird after he said that. How did he know that? He felt like Brick already told him that before. But when? He never saw or used this gun before, or did he? Thinking about that just made his head hurt even more.

Cavendish looked around before trying to climb out of the truck. The most stable place he can go was on the branches and the roots that were sticking out of the cliff. Once he got there, he turned around to point the antigravity gun at the truck. A strange part of him already knew how to use it. Shooting it at the truck, a purple beam enveloped it. It was a bit difficult to lift up the truck since technically, he wasn't on a stable surface. When he moved the truck, the branches would move too, which caused him to move. He tried to keep as still as he can. Every movement he would make, it would cause the truck to move too. He didn't want to shake the truck too much.

A thought came to his mind. When he was in the truck, he saw a bunch of crates full of pistachios. Knowing that he left the back of the truck's doors open, he slightly tipped the truck so that all the pistachios would fall out.

Whoops, oh well.

After that, he carefully moved the truck back on top of the cliff. Far enough that it would fall back down the cliff.

He felt relieved. He actually helped! He actually saved them! And he destroyed the pistachios while he was at it. Cavendish can hear them starting up the truck and moving it further away from the cliff.

Suddenly, he started to get that feeling again. A feeling that he was in danger. But this time, there was nothing he can do. He was stuck on the side of the cliff. He tried to comfort himself by thinking that Brick or Savannah would help him up, but that strange feeling just kept getting worse and worse. Struggling to keep his balance, he accidentally dropped the anti-gravity gun.

Then, right before he fell to his doom, something grabbed his arm. Looking up, thinking that it was Brick or Savannah, he was surprised to see Dakota instead.

Dakota struggled a bit, but he managed to lift Cavendish back up to safety. Cavendish was extremely thankful, but it confused him that Dakota knew where he was. Last time he saw him, he was at the apartment. He didn't even leave a note telling Dakota where he was.

Brick and Savannah ran up to them.

"Are you okay?" Savannah asked.

Before Cavendish can reply, Brick, spoke up, "You did that on purpose!"

Cavendish gave him a questionable look.

"Don't look at me like that! You purposely destroyed all the pistachios! Why? Are you doing this just to spite Block?"

"Just shut up! He didn't have to save you!" Dakota yelled at Brick.

That caught Brick off guard.

Savannah stepped in, "He's right, he didn't have to save us," she walked up to Cavendish, "Thank you, Balthazar."

That made Cavendish smile.

"Whatever, come on Cav," Dakota grabbed onto Cavendish's wrist and started to lead him towards the time machine.

"Dakota?" Cavendish questioned, "What is the meaning of this?" Cavendish struggled a bit, but Dakota had a really strong grip on him.

Cavendish didn't even say goodbye before Dakota shoved him into the time machine. Dakota took the driver's seat and quickly started the car. It didn't take long before they were already back at their apartment.

"Dakota! I didn't even get the chance to give them back their communicator!"

"They'll get a new one," Dakota got out of the car and walked up to their apartment.

Cavendish sighed. Dakota was probably mad at him for not telling him about the mission.

Wait.

A strange thought came to Cavendish's mind. How did Dakota even get to where he was? He took their only time machine to save Brick and Savannah. How did he follow him?

"Dakota?" Cavendish quietly said.

"Cavendish... Please, not now, I know you didn't sleep yet so let's just get some sleep, okay?" Dakota walked over to his desk, sat down on his chair, crossed his arms on his desk, and rest his head.

Even though Cavendish was confused, he decided to oblige. He slowly walked towards his desk, sliding his hand along the wood. When he reached his chair, he sat down. He gave one last look towards Dakota before taking off his glasses to try to catch up on some lost sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Cavendish loved and hated his new found 'superpower'. He loved it because it gave him the confidence to do more dangerous things. Things that could get him hurt. But, he hated it because of the headaches that came with it and the fact that he doesn't really get the chance to actually use his new 'superpower'. Nothing really dangerous comes with cleaning outhouses in the renaissance. He thought that nothing could be worse than trying to save Pistachios, but this was worse.

Nothing even changed after he saved Brick and Savannah! Which just made him more frustrated with Block. He proved that he was able to do more important missions, but Block didn't care. Block even scold him for not telling Dakota about the mission! Telling him things like "Partners are supposed to stick together". Even Dakota seemed a bit mad at him.

Anyways, there they were, just finishing up renaissance outhouse duty. Dakota and himself were walking down the street towards their time machine. Then, he was getting that strange feeling again. As if this already happened before.

"Hey, Cav?" Dakota stopped walking.

"Hm? Yes?" Cavendish stopped walking to turn around and look at Dakota.

"Drums are better than piano."

That caught him off guard, "What?! Dakota!" he shouted, "There's no way that the primitive drums are better than the elegant piano! To play the piano, it takes skills and years of practice. Drums on the other hand-"

Boom!

Cavendish rant was interrupted by an explosion. He turned around to look at where it came from. He wasn't able to see the source of the explosion, but he can see that if they continued to walk down the sidewalk, they would have been hit with some debris.

Cavendish just looked at the mess in confusion and shock.

"Yeah, you're right, piano is better drums," Dakota grabbed Cavendish's wrist, "Come on, let's go."

"Huh?"

* * *

That night, something strange happened. The previous mission they did earlier that day replayed in his head. They were on renaissance outhouse duty. They justed finished up and now they were walking down the street towards the time machine.

They were walking silently. All they wanted to do was to go home and take a shower.

All of a sudden, there was a strange explosion near them. A piece of metal flew through the air and landed right into Cavendish.

Cavendish could feel all the pain that came from getting stabbed with a piece of metal. Feeling his blood spilling out of him, he wasn't sure what to do. He was in shock. He looked at Dakota. Dakota looked annoyed. Not concerned, not worried, not in shock, he just looked annoyed.

Cavendish watched as Dakota continued to walk towards the time machine as if nothing happened.

The pain was too much.

All of a sudden, Cavendish woke up yelling.

Dakota was already awake. He was drinking some coffee. When Cavendish went from sleeping peacefully to yelling. That scared Dakota. He spilled his coffee all over his desk and yelled in surprise.  
Cavendish was struggling to breathe, he was clutching his chest exactly where the piece of metal hit him.

"What the-," Dakota shook his head, "Cavendish!" he got up from his desk and ran towards Cavendish.

Cavendish started to calm down a bit and rubbed his forehead.

"A-are you okay? Are you having a heart attack?" Dakota asked nervously.

"No no, just... A nightmare." Cavendish replied.

"A nightmare?"

"Yes."

"Oh," Dakota quickly calmed down. He sat casually on the corner of Cavendish's desk, "Do... You wanna talk about it?"

Cavendish closed his eyes, "No, it's just a dream. No need to talk about it. By talking about it, it'll just ensure that I'll remember it. The sooner I forget it, the better."

"Okay..." Dakota continued to look at Cavendish. Then, he looked at his desk. "Do you want me to make you some tea? I already have to make myself some more coffee," he used his thumb to point at his coffee covered desk.

Cavendish opened his eyes and looked at Dakota's desk. "Oh dear! My apologies, did I startle you when I woke up?"

Dakota rubbed the back oh his neck, "Just a little bit."

Cavendish sighed, "Tea would be nice right now. You may prepare it as I clean up your desk. It is my fault that it is in that condition."

"That sounds good to me!"

* * *

They were waiting in their time machine. They were waiting for Brick and Savannah.

Brick and Savannah are supposed to drive by in a pistachio truck.

They were planning on sabotaging their mission. A part of Cavendish felt bad for trying to sabotage their mission. Savannah was acting a bit nicer towards him. Flashing a smile at him when he saw her at the time travel agency. Maybe she saw potential in him.

But, Brick and Savannah were running late.

Both Dakota and himself waited for them for what seemed like hours. They chatted a bit, but not much. Mostly small talk.

It was hot in the car. Both of them were tired and that tiredness made Cavendish's mind wander. He thought about that dream. That dream he had a few days ago of him dying. Lately, he's been having more dreams like that. Tired of everything, tired of waiting in a hot car, tired of the silence, Cavendish decided to ask a strange question. A question that made Dakota uneasy.

"Dakota?" Cavendish put down his binoculars.

Dakota finished drinking from his water bottle, "Yeah?"

"What would you do if I died?" he didn't even turn around to look at him when he asked that question.

"What?"

This time, Cavendish looked at Dakota, "What would you do if I died?"

He can see the colour drain from Dakota's face, "Woah woah woah, what kind of question is that?"

Cavendish shrugged. He looked at Dakota waiting for an answer.

"Well, uh," he can tell that Dakota wanted to change the subject. "Brick and Savannah should be driving past us soon," he grabbed his binoculars and looked around. He looked around for a bit but then looked back at his partner. Cavendish looked upset.

"Okay..." Cavendish replied.

They were both quiet again, but that question was eating Dakota alive, "W-why were you wondering about what I would do if you died?"

"I was just wondering," Cavendish said in an emotionless tone.

"Alright... Haha..." Dakota awkwardly laughed.

"Why did you try to avoid the question?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, I dunno, I don't really like to imagen you being dead."

"Okay," Cavendish didn't want to push this topic any further. He was satisfied with that answer. Anyways, it was just a dream. It was immature to be upset with someone over a dream. "If you were to... pass away, my life would not be the same. Even though I may get frustrated by your actions, I do care about you."

Dakota related and smiled, "Awwwww! You care about me!"

Even though he shouldn't be upset at him because of a dream, those nightmares just seemed way too real. He couldn't stop himself from keeping his mouth shut, "Yes, I truly do. And I hope that if I were to pass away, you wouldn't just look at me in an annoyed way," Cavendish started to look through his binoculars again.

Dakota's eyes went wide, "What?"

A truck drove past them. It was the pistachio truck! The perfect distraction. "There they are!" Cavendish shouted. He pressed a button and the traffic light turned red. "Let's go! We don't have much time!"

* * *

Cavendish was still having strange Deja vus. But now it's worse. Now it was more like a curse than a superpower. He's getting nightmares of what seemed like different timelines. Ones that he died. He wanted to talk to someone about it. Anyone. But he felt like there was no one to talk to about this.

He fished out some of his old time travel textbooks to try to find some answers to what was going on.

There were no answers to what's going on. Deja vus were caused by changes to the timeline, but even though it says that it happens more often if you were a time travel. It says that if you're experiencing it frequently, you should report it.

He didn't really want to report it. He had a feeling that if he did, he'd be laid off. Even though he hated the missions he got, he loved the idea of time travel. There was no way he could image doing a different job. One that does not involve time travel. Time travel has always been a dream of his. He did not waste twenty years studying time travel for no reason. He didn't even pay off his student loans yet!

He looked over at Dakota. He was asleep at his desk again. Cavendish decided to wait until he fell asleep before he went through his old textbooks.

Cavendish tossed the textbook he was reading aside and grabbed a different one. He spent about half an hour reading it before he came across something interesting.

Cavendish read to himself, "Preventing several deaths from occurring has no consequences to the people that would have passed if that event did not occur, but, preventing someone from dying when their time has come, time will try to fix the error."

Cavendish got a sinking feeling. Now, he had vivid dreams of dying. Over and over again. Was he actually dying? Was he remembering different timelines in which he died? That would mean someone was preventing him from dying.

Was...

Was Dakota stopping him from dying?

Cavendish gasped as if he just found out something he was not supposed to know.

He looked at Dakota sleeping. Would he go back in time to save his life? Did he even care enough about him to do that? Was that why he looked annoyed whenever he died?

If he did, he'd be breaking so many rules. If Block knew what he was doing, he would surely be fired and thrown in jail.

But, it's not like he was a hundred percent sure that Dakota was going back in time to save him. There was only one way to know for sure.

He did not like that idea. To know for sure if Dakota was going back in time to save him, he'd have to throw himself into danger to see if he would stop him.

And if he was wrong, he might end up killing himself for no good reason or ending up in the hospital.

But now, it's time to go to sleep. It was late and he was exhausted. A part of him didn't want to go to sleep because he knew that he'd probably get another nightmare. But, he needed to sleep so he put his textbooks away and got ready to fall asleep at his desk.

* * *

Renaissance outhouse duty.

Blah blah blah.

Another miserable mission done and now it was time to go back home. But, before then, Cavendish had to test out his theory. Dakota continued to walk towards the time machine, but Cavendish stopped. He turned around and walked towards the cliff.

This was crazy.

But he was so numb to the idea of him dying that he didn't really care. He already knows how it felt like to die and he's used to it now. Besides, what does he have to lose? He hated his job, but he's nothing without it. His only friend is his partner. And yet, Dakota is forced to be with him.

No family to call his own. Nightmares almost every night.

As he walked towards the cliff, he looked behind him. Dakota didn't notice that he stopped following him.

Whatever.

He continued until he reached the edge of the cliff. A part of him told him to turn back. That he was just acting crazy. No, he wasn't acting crazy, he was crazy. He looked down the cliff, this was way too dangerous. If he was wrong, his tombstone will say, "Balthazar Cavendish, a time traveller who literally walked off a cliff to his death." As he was going to turn back, fate decided to intervene.

The part of the cliff he was standing on broke apart and he fell off the cliff. He yelled and then...

Another miserable mission done and now it was time to go back home. But, before then, Cavendish had to test out his theory. When he thought about what he was going to do, he started to get a Deja vu feeling and his head started to hurt. He also notices that Dakota was looking at him. Dakota slowed down his pace so that instead of walking slightly in front of him, now he was walking slightly behind him.

Cavendish already had in mind that he was going to walk off the cliff so he continued to reenact what he already did. And of course, Dakota grabbed his arm.

He stopped.

They both didn't move.

"Cav? The time machine is over there," Dakota pointed towards the time machine.

"Oh dear! My bad, I was lost in thought," Cavendish lied.

"Okay?... Come on, let's go," Dakota led Cavendish to the time machine.

That answered his question. Now, the only question left was, why?


	4. Chapter 4

Great...

Renaissance outhouse duty.

Again.

A small part of Cavendish actually wishes he was dead right now.

It was weird pretending like he didn't know what was going on. It felt like Dakota was a completely different person now. Ever since he met him, he always thought that Dakota was just a lazy slob that didn't really care if they fail their mission. But now... Dakota was literally giving him the gift of life.

He's the reason why he's still around.

Why on Earth would he be breaking almost all the rules of time travel just to keep him around? Thinking about this kept Cavendish from concentrating on their job.

"Cav? Hello?" Dakota said.

"Oh," Dakota snapped Cavendish out of his thoughts, "Yes?"

"What's with you? You're not complaining."

"What?"

Dakota started to giggle a bit, "Usually, by now, you've already gone on like three different rants about how we deserve better than this."

"Oh," Cavendish didn't realize that he was oddly silent. "We do deserve better than this!"

"Ahh, there's the Cavendish I know!" Dakota smiled.

"Seriously, it boggles me why Block would even give us such a pointless-" Cavendish started his rant, but, he was interrupted.

"Balthazar?"

Dakota recognized that voice. He turned around to find out he was right. It was Savannah. "Oh, hello there?" Cavendish smiled sheepishly.

Soon after, Brick showed up. "Oh great, what are you two doing here? Are you here to sabotage our mission again?"

"No! We have our own mission to occupy our time, right Dakota?"

Dakota spoke up, "Yeah, super occupied."

Brick glared at both of them, "Why are you guys still time travellers? Why didn't Block fire you clowns yet?"

Dakota smiled, "Clowns? I'll take that as a compliment. Clowns are fun."

Cavendish looked at Dakota, "Wasn't there a time period that clowns were considered scary?"

"Would that mean we're fun and scary?"

Brick was already starting to get frustrated with the both of them, "No! Just! Ugh! Stay away, we're on a mission right now."

Cavendish adjusted his glasses, "If I'm not mistaken, you two are the ones who approached us."

"Yeah," Dakota added.

Brick threw his hands in the air, "Whatever! Come on Savannah," Brick started to walk away.

But Savannah didn't follow him, "Look, Cavendish," she focuses all her attention towards him, "I know you don't like Block, but I would like to get back to saving the world, so, could you not intervene this time? I don't think I can handle another pistachio mission."

Cavendish laughed nervously and glanced at Dakota, "I'm not sure if I can do that."

Savannah frowned, "Seriously?"

"Seriously, for, you see, in the future, pistachios become sentient and take over the world and... Uhhhh... Why do I even bother trying to explain it?... It's not like you'll believe me..."

"Yeah," Dakota added, "They become super sentient and destroy everything. We're saving the world by stopping those nutjobs from coming back."

Savannah gave them a skeptical look, "Whatever," she shrugged and walked away.

Cavendish and Dakota watched her leave.

After that, Dakota turned around to face Cavendish, "You wanna?"

"Yes," Cavendish ran to follow Brick and Savannah.

Dakota quickly followed behind.

* * *

Brick and Savannah were walking towards their mission but then Brick got closer to Savannah.

"They're following us," he whispered to her.

Without flinching, she looked at the refection of the window next to them. Brick was right. Cavendish and Dakota were following them. They were not really sneaky about it. They were trying to act sneaky, but in a cartoony way.

"What should we do?"

"Lose them of course, follow my lead," Savannah whispered back.

Savannah went from walking casually to sprinting away. She grabbed her grappling hook and shot it at a building. Seeing this, Brick did the same.

Dakota stopped, "Well, it looks like they saw us, what now?"

Cavendish glanced at Dakota but then ran to follow them.

"Cav?!" Dakota said in confusion. He sighed and tried to follow Cavendish.

There was no way he was going to lose them. May as well put his 'superpower' to the test. Dakota is probably going to hate him for doing this.

Cavendish jumped on a horse carriage. After that, he jumped for a windowsill. Hanging there, adrenaline helped him pull himself up.

"What the- Cavendish! What are you doing?"

Standing on the edge of a window, he replied, "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm stopping them!" he continued to free climb the building. He reached for another windowsill, but then started to get that feeling again. A feeling that he was putting himself in danger. So he turned around and went for a different one.

"Are you crazy?!"

Cavendish ignored him as he continued to climb the building. Once he got to the top he saw Brick and Savannah. They both looked and him before parkouring their way from building to building. Of course, Cavendish followed them.

As Brick was running, he looked behind him, "How is he still following us?!" Brick groan in frustration. He took out a flash grenade and threw it at Cavendish. The flash blinded and surprised him. He covered his eyes and backed up a bit. Because he backed up, his foot stepped on a plank of wood causing him to lose his balance. "Woah!" Cavendish cried out right before he fell off the building.

Savannah went from walking casually to sprinting away. She grabbed her grappling hook and shot it at a building. Seeing this, Brick did the same.

Dakota stopped, "Well, it looks like they saw us, what now?"

This happened before. Cavendish can feel his head starting to hurt, but it didn't really bother him anymore. Pain didn't seem to bother him now. He died so many times that these headaches seem like nothing. He was starting to become numb to pain. Cavendish glanced at Dakota. He can see that Dakota was getting ready to stop him from following them. But, Cavendish decided to run the other way, which caught Dakota completely off guard. He ran to a pole that was next to the sidewalk. Grabbing it, he swung himself towards the right direction. He ran past Dakota and started to climb the same building.

"Huh?" Dakota said in confusion.

Cavendish jumped on a horse carriage. After that, he jumped for a windowsill. Hanging there, adrenaline helped him pull himself up.

"Cavendish! Get down from there! You're going to hurt yourself! It's not worth it!" Dakota tried to reason with him.

Standing on the edge of a window, he replied, "What does it look like I'm doing?- I mean... Oh nevermind!" he continued to free climb the building.

"Cav! Ugh! Come on!"

Cavendish ignored him as he continued to climb the building. Once he got to the top he saw Brick and Savannah. They both looked and him before parkouring their way from building to building.

Cavendish followed them.

As Brick was running, he looked behind him, "How is he still following us?!" Brick groan in frustration. He took out a flash grenade and threw it at Cavendish, but this time, Cavendish caught it and quickly threw it away from himself.

Both Brick and Savannah gasped.

Seeing that, Cavendish grinned as he tried to catch up to them.

Brick and Savannah turned around to look at Cavendish one more time before they used their grappling hooks to get to a building that was further away.

Now Cavendish was left on a roof of a building. There was no way he could follow them now. He doesn't have a grappling hook.

That could have gone better.

Oh well.

Redo.

He walked to the edge of the building and let gravity do its thing.

Savannah went from walking casually to sprinting away. She grabbed her grappling hook and shot it at a building. Seeing this, Brick did the same.

Dakota stopped, "Oh well, seems like they got away, how about we get some ice cream?" Dakota asked with a pleading expression.

Cavendish just looked at him for a moment and then ran off, "Sorry Dakota!"

"Cavendish!" Dakota yelled and ran after him.

Cavendish jumped on a horse carriage. After that, he jumped for a windowsill. He pulled himself up.

This time, Dakota tried to follow him. After climbing the building, he was exhausted, he had to take a break, "Ugh..." he looked up and watched Cavendish follow Brick and Savannah.

As Brick was running, he looked behind him, "How is he still following us?!" Brick groan in frustration. He took out a flash grenade and threw it at Cavendish, again, Cavendish caught it and quickly threw it away from himself.

Both Brick and Savannah gasped.

This time, Cavendish didn't smile. As soon as Brick and Savannah went back to concentrating on running away, he decided to take a different path.

Before Brick and Savannah used their grappling hooks to get away. They turned around, "Huh? Where did he go?" Brick asked.

"Who's the clown now?" Cavendish was right behind them. He was standing on the edge of the building, blocking them from escaping.

"What?! How?!" Savannah looked around, "Huh?" she said in confusion.

Dakota caught up. He was struggling to breathe.

Everyone looked towards him.

"Cavendish! Ledge... Ugh..."

With that distraction, Cavendish attacked Brick.

"AH! Are you crazy?!" Brick threw Cavendish off of him.

"Yes, yes I am," Cavendish raised a fist in the air. He was holding a piece of paper. "I got it! Come on Dakota!"

Dakota was still trying to catch his breath as Cavendish ran off. He took one more deep breath before he tried to follow him. After he got off of the building. He started to look around searching for Cavendish.

"Pssst! Dakota," Cavendish was hiding out in an ally.

"There you are!" Dakota walked up to him.

"Behold!" Cavendish held up a piece of paper. "Their mission receipt!"

Dakota smiled, "What? No way!"

"Yes way!" Cavendish cleared his throat, "Bread! Milk. Apples..." Cavendish stopped, "AAAAHHHH!" Cavendish yelled in anger. Then, he stormed off with one thing on his mind.

Redo.


	5. Chapter 5

This time, Cavendish did everything perfectly. With Brick and Savannah's real mission receipt, he read it out loud, "Their mission is to protect some pistachio trees! This even has the coordinates! Come on Dakota! To the time machine!" he shouted. He was too concentrated on his personal mission that he didn't notice Dakota's condition.

"Okay, just, can we please take a break first?"

Cavendish looked at Dakota. It's then that he noticed Dakota's poor condition. Cavendish's smile went away. He felt terrible for what he did. When he was going after Brick and Savannah, he had tunnel vision. He didn't think about the consequences of his actions. All he wanted to do was to prove himself. To stop Brick and Savannah. How can he act so selfish? "You can rest here, I'll go get the time machine and pick you up."

Dakota thought for a moment before agreeing, "Okay..."

* * *

They found the pistachio trees.

They destroyed them.

Turns out that Brick and Savannah was supposed to stop two "lunatics" from setting those pistachio trees on fire. Weird enough, if Brick and Savannah never got that mission, Cavendish and Dakota wouldn't have destroyed them and the pistachio trees would be fine. Guessed that fate already decided what would happen to those pistachio trees.

By the end of the day, Dakota fell asleep in the car while they were on their way back home. Cavendish parked the time machine right outside their apartment. He took a moment to look at his partner. Regret flowed through his veins. "Vinnie?" he said quietly but Dakota was fast asleep.

Cavendish unbuckled himself and got out of the car. He walked around to the passenger seat. After he opened the door of the car, he shook Dakota a bit. Unfortunately for him, Dakota was completely unconscious.

He didn't really want to wake him up, but he couldn't just leave him here. Times like this made him wish that they had a bedroom or at least a bed. If he brought him back to the apartment, Dakota would be forced to sleep on the uncomfortable ground. Which, thinking about that made Cavendish think for a moment. Maybe it would be better if they slept in the car tonight.

He looked at Dakota. He shrugged and lowered Dakota's seat to attempt to make it as comfortable as possible. After that, he locked the door and closed it. He walked back to his side of the car, got inside and locked it. It was a nice night, not too cold, not too warm, and it wasn't raining. In fact, there wasn't a cloud in the sky which revealed some stars. That was Cavendish's favourite thing about sleeping in the car.

He stretched a bit and looked over at Dakota again. Dakota looked a bit uncomfortable. Even though Cavendish was feeling fine, Dakota looked cold. So, Cavendish took off his suit's jacket and covered Dakota with it. It didn't take long for Dakota to grab it and unconsciously smile. Which, of course, made Cavendish smile.

Cavendish lowered his seat and try to get as comfortable as possible. He looked up at the stars then back at Dakota. His smile went away. He knew that he pretty much dragged Dakota through the mud today. What did surprise him was that Dakota managed to keep up his act. He didn't just slapped him and tell him to stop dying. That made him wonder how long has he been "dying". He recently became aware about him dying but he's not sure when it started.

He knew that he needed to talk to Dakota about this. He couldn't just keep pretending that he didn't know. That, and he couldn't let Dakota continue to pretend everything was fine when it wasn't.

Cavendish sighed and turned to face away from Dakota. It was time for him to go to sleep too. It's been a long stressful day. The only fun part of it was setting all those pistachio trees ablaze.

That, was fun.

* * *

Renaissance outhouse duty.

Why did it have to be that?

Whatever... Cavendish was starting to get used to it.

He was surprised that they didn't get a call from Block scolding them about setting the pistachio trees on fire. Cavendish thought that maybe Brick and Savannah didn't rat them out. But, there was no reason why they wouldn't rat them out. So that confused him.

Anyways, they were done.

Which means there was no reason to wait any longer. It was time for them to have "the talk". They needed to talk about this. This was wrong. Dakota needed to stop doing this. You can't go back in time to stop your partner from dying. It's the number one rule of time travel. You just... Can't.

As they were walking back to the time machine, Cavendish tried his best to bring up the topic as casually as possible, "Hey Dakota?"

"Hmm?" Dakota replied.

"Are you preventing me from dying?"

Dakota stopped. The colour drained from his face. He hesitated for a moment before speaking up. "What?"

Cavendish stopped walking and looked at Dakota, "Are you preventing me from dying?" he repeated.

Dakota started to panic. He knew that his cover was blown," H-how did you-"

Cavendish glared at him. "Vinnie Dakota! Do you know how many rules you're breaking by doing that?!"

"Well, yeah, but..."

"But what?!"

Dakota tried to avoid eye contact.

"Dakota!" Cavendish shouted.

"I need you. I-I don't want you to die," Dakota started to tear up.

Seeing Dakota starting to cry, Cavendish calmed down, "Vinnie..."

Suddenly, Dakota hugged him, which, caught him off guard. "Vinnie, you can't keep doing this! It's the number one rule of time travel. What if Block found out about this?"

"I know! I'm selfish! Just, UGH!" Dakota hugged Cavendish even harder.

Cavendish got a bit annoyed. He was never a fan of physical contact. He slowly pushed Dakota away from him. "Look, let's go home, then we can continue to talk about this."

Dakota wiped away some tears, "Okay..."

They both drove quietly back home. Cavendish could tell that Dakota was avoiding eye contact. When they got back home, the tension seemed to calm down.

"So," Dakota started, "How did you find out?"

Cavendish closed the door behind him. "I've been having strange Deja vu moments and nightmares."

"Seriously?" Dakota looked at him.

"Yes," he locked the door. He had to ask this question. He couldn't stop himself, "When did I start dying?"

Dakota sat at his desk. He put his legs on his desk and crossing them, "As far back as I can remember."

"What?"

"You died on our very first mission."

"What?!" Cavendish shouted.

"Yeah..."

Cavendish paused for a moment, "Why did you save me?"

"Hmm?"

"When we got our first mission, we barely knew each other! Why in the world would you go back in time to save my life?"

"What else was I suppose to do?" Dakota took his legs off his desk and rubbed the back of his neck. "I really liked you."

"You broke so many rules!"

"I liked how upset you got with me on that day."

"Dakota!"

"You even called me a ninny! Hahaha!" Dakota started to laugh.

"Vinnie!"

"You were so excited for your first mission! And then..." Dakota smile went away.

Cavendish sighed, "That doesn't matter. I'm supposed to be dead."

"Well, at least you know about the whole, dying stuff. That'll probably make my job easier."

"You can't seriously continue to save my life."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm supposed to be dead!" Cavendish yelled.

"And yet, you're not."

"But I'm supposed to!"

"So?"

"You can't keep doing this!"

"Why not?" Dakota asked.

"Because!"

"Because what?"

Cavendish was starting to get frustrated, "Because time will try to fix this! Time will keep killing me until I'm dead!"

"What?"

Cavendish walked up to Dakota's desk and put his hands on it. "What do you mean, what?"

"What are you talking about? Time will keep killing you?"

"Why else do you think I was dying over and over again?"

Dakota was silent.

Cavendish glared at him.

"I just thought that you were completely unaware of your surroundings that you would just walk into danger all the time."

"What? I'm not that clueless!"

"Ehhhh..."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Some of your deaths were... pretty embarrassing."

Cavendish took off his glasses and started to rub his forehead. "You can't keep doing this."

"Why not?"

"Dakota..."

Dakota looked at him, "What?"

"I'm starting to remember every death."

"At least you're just starting to. I remember every one of your deaths. I wish I didn't, to be honest."

Cavendish stopped rubbing his forehead and put his glasses back on. "This is going to keep happening until fate finally claims me."

"Well, now that you know about this, maybe you can be more careful?"

"I'm unsure if that's even possible. Why don't you just simply let me die?"

Dakota looked away, "If you really want to die... I won't stop you."

Cavendish sighed. He walked in front of Dakota to get him to look at him again. "Do you really care about me?"

Dakota lightens up. "Yeah! Why else would I go back in time to save you and send my past-selfs to an island."

"What?"

"Ohhh, oops, I didn't tell you about the island."

"What island?"

"My island, well, an island that has a bunch of mes," Dakota tried to clarify, "What I mean is that when you died, my past-self doesn't disappear. So, I just send that version of myself to an island."

Cavendish's eyes widen. This was new information. "Dakota!" he yelled.

"What? What else was I suppose to do? Kill the past version of myself everytime you die? I couldn't keep doing that. It felt wrong."

"You... killed past versions of yourself? How are you even alive right now?!"

"I don't know? Okay? Time travel is confusing."

"This is overwhelming."

"I know right?" Dakota agreed.

Cavendish turned around and walked to his desk. He sat down on his chair. "You have to show me this island one day."

"Alright, but I dunno what's there. I've never been there. The next time you die, it'll be my turn to go and the Dakota that saw you die will take my place."

Cavendish rested his head on his desk. Hinting that he didn't want to continue the conversation.

"Hey."

"Yeah?" Cavendish mumbled.

"What is it like to die?"

Cavendish looked at Dakota, "It's painful the first couple of times, but you get used to it."

* * *

Things were different now that Cavendish knew about his fate and Dakota knew that he knew. Cavendish was way more concern about his surroundings. He died less, but he still died every now and then. Everytime Cavendish died, they talked about it for a bit. Confort one another about it and then move on as if it never happened.

Cavendish always thought that Dakota only tolerated him. That he only spent time with him because he was his partner. But seeing this completely different side to Dakota, it made him feel like it wasn't his time to die yet, even if fate wants him gone.


End file.
